Spokane Valley Champions

I forgot to do a post-session recap last time we played, and since we’re playing again tomorrow, I figured I’d better get my butt in gear! So here goes:

First, let me get something off my chest. Our last session seemed a little…well…flat. I apologize for that!! I feel badly that what should have been one of our most epic battles of this adventure ended up seeming a little mechanical. I don’t know what my problem was, but I didn’t DM well, and I’m sorry. :-(

To recap, you had just entered the room where Nezznar— a drow wizard, and the Black Spider himself—was holed up and evidently doing some research. Sadly, he wasn’t alone; 4 giant spiders were there to keep him company! Nezznar tried unsuccessfully to make Salazar leave the fray, but Salazar wasn’t falling for THAT! But then Nezznar cast Invisibility on himself, preferring to let his spider bodyguards handle his intruders. The spiders caused serious problems wrapping a couple of you up in web, as well as poisoning a couple of you with their venomous fangs. Then, Nezznar popped out of invisibility to shock Tarben. However, you honestly made pretty quick work of Nezznar, and started killing of the spiders too.

Unfortunately, all of the racket drew the attention of a few bugbears from the east, as well as another drow. You did NOT fare so well against these newcomers, and frankly, I worried that the party might not make it out of this encounter with all of its members intact, if at all. (In fact, Salazar WAS seriously injured and knocked unconscious, but fortunately stabilized while the battle continued to rage around him.) You all managed to rally, though, and survived the encounter, dragging Salazar back to your safe room.

There’s something else that I neglected to mention!! When you killed the drow warrior who arrived late to the battle, his visage changed, and you discovered he really WASN’T a drow, but a doppleganger who had shapeshifted to appear as one! (Incidentally, that’s not the FIRST doppleganger who was in the employ of Nezznar…remember?)

That brings us up to speed! Everyone should be at full hit points now, and with all spell slots restored. You STILL haven’t found the Forge of Spells though, and it’s clear that Nezznar hadn’t found what HE was looking for either. And there is at least one Rockseeker brother who is still unaccounted for. Your work isn’t finished yet!

How do we play this again??

We’re back into the swing of things! Here’s what happened:

First of all, I COMPLETELYFORGOTSOMETHINGREALLYIMPORTANT!! You remember I previously mentioned the thundering boom that you heard in these caves? Well, it’s still there! It occurs about every 2 minutes, and it’s loud enough to make the ground underfoot tremble. It doesn’t affect anything, but it’s pretty distinctive, and I should have reminded you about it. Whoops!

After a full rest in what seemed to be a safe room in the dungeon, you got back to adventuring. You first returned to a large cavern that you hadn’t fully explored…since when you first went there you were quickly attacked by hungry ghouls. After finding nothing much in that cavern, you moved to the southwest and explored a maze of passages that appeared to be old mining tunnels. It was here that a lurking ochre jelly ambushed your party. It first attacked (but missed) Evon, but unfortunately, poor Tarben was the one who took significant damage here. After learning an important lesson, (“Oh! Hitting this thing with slashing weapons just splits it into TWONEWJELLIES!”), you prevailed over the jelly and moved on, (after Tarben cured some of his damage).

Moving north, you discovered a cavern with a pool in it. Your idiot DM started reading the wrong text, tipping you off that the pool was worth searching. You found an old skeleton wearing 2 valuable rings and clutching a wand, (which remains unidentified for now).

Moving to the east, you opened the door to a barracks. You and the barrack’s 5 bugbear inhabitants were equally surprised to see each other! This was a tough battle; the bugbears were well armored and skilled at fighting, and Salazar and Tarben both took a fair amount of damage here. In the end, though, you defeated the bugbears, and between Tarben’s clerical skills and healing potions, you healed up again. (N.B. In this context, “clerical skills” does NOT mean that Tarben is good at typing!)

To the northwest, you then discovered a promising-looking set of double doors. Upon opening them, you discovered the Black Spider himself…a drow (or dark elf) named Nezznar. Unfortunately, he also has company…a few giant spiders. <shiver>

That’s where we decided to call it a night. Dramatic music is playing, knuckles have been cracked, and it’s time to rumble!

You met as 5 strangers in the huge city of Neverwinter on the Sword Coast, in a popular pub called the Leaking Cask. You were drawn together by your common desire to do something more exciting than enter the trades; something more…adventurous; something that would secure your names alongside the legendary heroes you hear so much about. One of you, a dwarvish cleric named Tarben—who had been recently suspended from active duty in a company of mercenaries—had 3 cousins, the Rockseeker brothers, who needed some help. The job didn’t seem particularly “adventurous”…it was a fairly standard escort job. But you figured it would get your foot in the door, and earn some coin at the same time. Along with Tarben was a halfling rogue named Amranth, a human fighter named Evon, an elvish wizard named Althaea, and a human fighter named Salazar. Your task? Simply escort a wagon filled with supplies from Neverwinter to a village called Phandalin—about 70 miles away. One of Tarben’s cousins, Gundren Rockseeker, along with his bodyguard, Sildar Hallwinter, would go on a day ahead and meet you in Phandalin. Gundren was somewhat secretive about details, but he seemed very excited about having found “something big!”

But what began as a simple task soon turned into something different when you encountered 2 dead horses filled with black-feathered arrows in your path. You immediately recognized the horses as having belonged to Gundren and Sildar, and shortly thereafter, you were attacked by a party of goblin ambushers. Questioning the lone surviving attacker revealed that while the goblins of this region frequently ambushed travelers for profit, they had recently been given a special task by a mysterious Black Spider who wanted Gundren captured.

Hoping to find and rescue Gundren, you coerced the captive goblin to lead you to the cave which served as the hideout of the Cragmaw tribe, deep in the woods. You had a nasty run-in with a trap which flooded the passages with water, but ultimately, you explored the entire cave and defeated its inhabitants…including their leader, a bugbear named Klarg. You also found and rescued Sildar, who informed you that Gundren had been transferred—along with a special map of his—to someplace called Cragmaw Castle. However, Sildar had no idea where this castle was, and in the following days you had a very difficult time finding anyone who had heard of it, let alone knew its location!

Thus started a collection of short, investigative ventures that gave you some vital experience, but also some clues as to the whereabouts of Cragmaw Castle. You investigated Old Owl Well, and the mysterious wizard who seemed to be poking around there. You sought out and received information from a banshee. You defeated a band of orcs who had settled near Wyvern Tor. Perhaps most significantly, (at least to the inhabitants of Phandalin), you defeated the gang of Redbrands who had been oppressing the village, and were able to capture and bring to justice their leader, Iarno “Glasstaff” Albrek. You also discovered that Iarno had been working with the same Black Spider as the Cragmaw goblins.

Finally, you made you way to the abandoned village of Thundertree, to seek out a druid named Reidoth, who you’d been told might know where Cragmaw Castle was. But you found Thundertree to be overrun by evil creatures, not the least of which was a young green dragon named Venomfang. Evon, whose family had been from Thundertree, felt a particular duty to cleanse the town, and after a couple of brushes with death, you managed to chase Venomfang away! Reidoth did indeed know the location of Cragmaw Castle, and so you set out to find it. The castle was populated with all manner of goblins, hobgoblins, an owlbear, and a bugbear named King Grol, but you defeated them all and rescued a badly beaten, but living Gundren Rockseeker!

Gundren was able to direct you to the fabled and recently re-discovered Wave Echo Cave, in the hopes that you might rescue his two brothers and defeat the evil Black Spider, who intends to use the legendary power of the cave’s Forge of Spells for his own evil purposes.

The adventure log is where you list the sessions and adventures your party has been on, but for now, we suggest doing a very light “story so far” post. Just give a brief overview of what the party has done up to this point. After each future session, create a new post detailing that night’s adventures.

One final tip: Don’t stress about making your Obsidian Portal campaign look perfect. Instead, just make it work for you and your group. If everyone is having fun, then you’re using Obsidian Portal exactly as it was designed, even if your adventure log isn’t always up to date or your characters don’t all have portrait pictures.